Artie Shaw, was a jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings. Widely regarded as “one of jazz’s finest clarinetists, “ Shaw led one of America’s most popular big bands of the late 1930s and early ‘40s. Their signature song, a 1938 version of Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine,” was very successful.